Published: February 4, 2013 at 10:08 am

If you are looking to invest in media stocks, there are two leading stocks you should consider buying: The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS). I have generally been bullish on the two, but I see reasons to prefer one over the other. Let’s take a look at the two below.

Disney has been one of my favorite stocks for some time. Its management is committed to rolling out its leading brand image into emerging markets. At the same time, management is responsible with growth. This is evidenced by the recent decision to lay off some employees, because newly acquired technologies have cut back on needed labor. It is now trying to reduce its operational costs to cope with the many recent acquisitions.

At the same time, fundamentals are on the upswing. Their iconic film studio business, for example, saw a 12.3% increase in profits. So Disney is mostly acting on the analysis that says 2013’s improved profits will come mostly from cost management. It is now planning to cut even more jobs and shorten its expenses, mostly in its studio segment where the new plan is to make fewer movies but with better casts and producers. This strategy has already started to pay dividends in terms of the market reaction–over the last month, the stock has risen 9%.

The company is also excited about partnerships. Disney’s RunDisney sports brand has entered a partnership with New Balance to release RunDisney 860v3 running shoes for its marathons across the company’s parks. To attract more visitors to its parks, they created a wristband device called MagicBands, which will allow easy access to the parks and cinemas–even to hotel rooms–without the need to carry money. All the visitors need to do is subscribe to its online cloud service.

Then there is also the much publicized partnership with Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:

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